


The Many Wonders of the Sun

by lupine_calla_wolfsbane



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Oblivious Nico
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-04
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-09-28 06:30:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10077491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lupine_calla_wolfsbane/pseuds/lupine_calla_wolfsbane
Summary: Nico hates Will. Or where Nico has spent so long in the shadows he can't see what's staring him right in the face.





	1. The Madness of Apollo's Children

               Nico hates Will. Well he doesn’t. He just says that in the hope it will get Jason to stop grinning at him (it doesn’t). He likes Will really, if anything, Nico envies the other boy. Will is sunshine and happiness, he’s bright and popular; Nico has always stuck in the shadows, literally stuck at one point. He’d been slipping away, melting into the shadows, and it had only been Will and three days in the infirmary that had brought him back from the brink. Those three days (well the better part of four, actually) had been hard on him but they’d really taken a toll on Will, even with the help of his brothers and sisters, at one point he’d nearly collapsed whilst healing Nico and been forced to sit down on the edge of the bed; the two of them briefly as weak as each other.

               And now Nico has friends, and Will is one of them; Will, who is living, breathing, sunlight incarnate, friends with Nico. The emo son of the god of the underworld. Go figure. If they’re not supposed to get along, then Will hadn’t got the memo. When Nico is first discharged, he comes to see him every day for check-ups, or so Will says, but he never actually checks anything, he just sits and talks to Nico until he gets called back to the infirmary or Jason comes to see Nico. Over time, Nico finds himself getting increasingly irritated every time they’re interrupted by Jason or Kayla or sometimes Percy; on one particular occasion, he’d snapped at Percy even though the older boy was only bringing him some of the cake that someone had made. He’d gone bright pink and apologised for being rude when he realised what he’d done.

               After a few weeks, Will’s visits become less frequent but he says hello whenever they cross paths, and he fusses for a good hour when Nico comes into the infirmary one day with a splitting headache. It feels nice, in a way, to have someone care about him, he enjoys the attention even if he’s getting told off for shadow travelling too much. Because eventually he figures out that Will only does it because he cares, and Nico cares as well. Which is why he tells Will to stop overexerting himself and _gods, Will, please, just sit down_. Sometimes Will listens, but most of the time he just brushes off Nico’s concern and continues doing enough work to put a strain on three people, Nico would be mad but he doesn’t listen to Will most of the time so he’s no better.

               Will overworks himself, in his three days in the infirmary Nico notices that; long after everyone else has gone to bed he’s still working, finishing paperwork or tending to some of the more unwell patients. The first night, he sits with Nico until the sun comes up, after that Kayla stays late to make sure he leaves at some point before one in the morning. There’s something else he notices, as he sits on a bed watching campers file in and out, Will is incredibly…cute; especially when he smiles, his eyes crinkle at the corners and he positively glows. Nico is so enraptured by it that he makes it a personal goal to get Will to smile again. He has a tendency to just frown and look worried when he’s around Nico and, honestly, it’s a little upsetting, he wants to be able to make Will smile like that.

               As a once almost permanently moody child of Hades Nico is quite sure where to start when it comes to making other people happy, he can order the dead to laugh at his jokes but it’s not quite the same. Compliments work. When Nico tells Will he’s an amazing doctor or praises him when he makes a halfway decent shot with a bow and arrow Will goes a funny colour and smiles again. Funnily enough, compliments from Kayla and Austin don’t seem to have the same effect and Kayla seems to hide a grin every time she sees them together. Children of Apollo. Mad. The lot of them.


	2. Light in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's no light like the light in Will's smile.

               Maybe he’s been spending too much time with the children of Aphrodite. Or he’s going mad. Either scenario would be the more reasonable explanation. But Nico swears, on whatever godly powers he may possess, that he has a secret admirer. For one thing, the Aphrodite kids keep giggling whenever they see him, and Jason keeps giving him subtle looks. All very annoying and inexplicable. That is, until Valentine’s day.

               Someone leaves black roses (which he actually quite likes) and skull shaped chocolates on his table in the pavilion, he chokes at the sight of them and tries to cover up his blush as the Aphrodite table giggle and make kissy faces at him. At least his admirer hasn’t left a cheesy note, but that also means Nico has no idea who’s behind the gifts, pushing the box of chocolates to one side, he sits down to eat. Kayla wanders over a little while later.

“Any idea who those are from?”

“No, they didn’t leave a note.”

“Hmm, would you like me to get a vase?” The flowers will probably die in Nico’s cabin but he nods anyway and watches Kayla head for the Big House. From the Aphrodite table, Piper winks at him.

               Will pops in to say hi and raises an eyebrow at the flowers, Nico offers him a chocolate but he waves it away.

“These are actually really nice, and the flowers haven’t died yet which is a miracle.”

“Huh.” Will says with forced neutrality.

“You get anything?”

“No, well, everyone had a little joke at my expense but it was all in good fun. Got my revenge in the end.” Nico doesn’t ask.

               He doesn’t get anything again for at least another month or two, in fact, he almost forgets about the flowers after they eventually die and the chocolates are gone scarcely two days after he’d opened them. They were good chocolates. But from time to time he catches sight of the empty vase and takes a moment to wonder who left them and who, when there are dozens of other more attractive, more approachable demigods, would choose Nico di Angelo. He says as much to Will. The son of Apollo freezes like a deer caught in the headlights, he’s silent for a long time, seemingly considering his reply.

“People care about you more than you realise, Nico. I mean, you’d be surprised who.” He turns bright pink and clamps his mouth shut.

“What? Who what?”

“Nothing.” Will squeaks and becomes very interested in the ground.

“Will! We need you at the infirmary!” One of the children of Apollo calls, startling them both.

“Gotta go!” Will turns on his heel and sprints away.

“Will!” Nico sighs as the blond disappears from view.

               Maybe he’s just anxious. Maybe the infirmary is just busy. But Nico is sure Will is avoiding him. Will had always made a point of coming to see Nico at least once every two weeks but now he’s lucky to see the son of Apollo once in a _month_ , and even then, Will makes an excuse to leave, acting jittery and nervous the whole time. He’s harder to find than a shadow in the goddamn dark, Nico practically haunts the archery range, only leaving when Kayla reminds him that her brother isn’t much of an archer so isn’t likely to be found wielding a bow and arrow. So, Nico starts hanging around the Apollo cabin in the hope of ambushing Will and demanding to know why the other boy was avoiding him. But he realises that’s not particularly sociable behaviour, even for him, so gives up on that venture. His best chances are in the infirmary, Kayla tells him that, Austin tells him that, _Jason_ tells him that. Nico knows of course. But he’s nervous of going back inside that place. He feels as if he goes back in there, if he sees the beds and the injured demigods it will take him back to how weak he was then, how afraid he was, more afraid than he’s happy to admit.

               For two days, he ponders giving up on finding Will, sits in his cabin and stares vacantly at the empty vase. Then he remembers that first night, when Will stayed up all night to keep an eye on him, the infirmary hadn’t been so bad; Will had looked after him, been a source of never-ending cheer even on Nico’s darkest days. Nico steels himself and swears he’ll go to the infirmary in the morning; he glances out the window and sees the sun beginning to set. Jason peers around the cabin door.

“Nico? You coming to dinner? You need to eat.”

“Yeah, I just.” Nico walks to door, sparing the vase one last glance as he leaves.

               He doesn’t have to go to the infirmary, Will pulls him aside after the bonfire, as his sibling are heading to bed.

“Nico.”

“You’ve been avoiding me.” Ouch. Will looks hurt. He probably should’ve worked on his tact.

“Yes. Yeah, I have been avoiding you. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Nico forgives him in the blink of an eye, he should probably ponder that.

“Nico, I.” He glances around to see that all the other campers have left. “Nico, I really care about you. You’re my friend.” Nico wonders vaguely where this is going. “But I’d like to be something more.”

Wait, what?

“Sorry?”

“Uh, what I’m trying to say is.”

“You like me?”

“Yeah?”

“You sent the flowers.”

“Yeah, I did.” Nico’s silent for a long time. The camp begins to go dark around them, Will stares at his feet, waiting. Nico takes a deep breath and takes Will’s hand.

“Ok.”

“Ok?”

“You like me, I like you. I’m willing to try this.” Will starts to grin, Nico smiles back and squeezes his hand.

Together, their smiles light up the whole camp.


	3. The Midnight Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little bit of cuteness I needed to write.  
> Will just likes being near Nico, likes sharing space with him and peppering kisses all over his face. It's the simple things.

               Will has never been afraid of the dark but he is a son of Apollo, he’s drawn to the sun, and away from the shadows. But now he’s dating Nico the shadows seem much friendlier, at time they almost seem to reach out to him; the creatures of the dark smile and say hello. Even now, as he sneaks across camp half-blood to the Hades cabin, the darkness seems comforting and he has a peculiar feeling that the dark itself is actively helping to conceal him; light pours from the windows of the Big House despite the late hour but the light barely reaches his toes. Taking the last few metres at a sprint, he knocks on the door of Nico’s cabin and looks around the darkened camp one more time. It takes so long for the door to open that Will is worried that Nico’s fallen asleep and he’ll be forced to creep back to the Apollo again and risk waking his siblings; but before he can go back the way he came, the door opens. Nico may be awake now, but it’s clear he’s recently been quite deeply asleep; his hair is a fluffy bird’s nest and his eyes are tinged red. Yawning, Nico rubs his eyes and smiles dopily.

“Hi, sorry about not answering. I, uh, fell asleep.” Will can’t help but smile and steps forward to kiss Nico on the forehead. Too sleepy to protest, Nico just blushes and mumbles something, the tips of his ears turning pink.

“It’s ok, can I come in?”

“Yeah, yeah come on.”

               They don’t talk much after that, Nico curls up under the sheets, buried so deep that only his mop of dark hair is visible; Will follows him and curls an arm around Nico’s waist, his boyfriend is still skinny but Will has realised that this is just how Nico is, he’s much healthier than he was at least. He’s not fading into the shadows anymore. Will’s happy to take that, especially if Nico’s small frame means he can scoop him up easily, Nico always protests when he does it but he’d once confessed that he quite liked Will picking him up and since then Will had taken that as permission to carry the son of Hades as often as possible. He reaches out to turn off the light and cuddles closer to Nico, this is the third time they’ve spent the night together and Will isn’t sure his siblings believe his lie about waking up early and going to check on Nico anymore. For one thing, Nico is doing fine and doesn’t need checking up on and even if he did, Nico is in the infirmary visiting Will almost daily, he’s hardly avoiding medical attention. But he’ll worry about that in the morning, for the moment he breathes in the smell of Nico’s shampoo and drifts off to sleep.


End file.
